Verity of Family
by AFincorporated
Summary: A series of connected one-shots about Leo and Calypso and their family and relationship after defeating Gaea. Lots of fluff, explosions, things lighting on fire, rock concerts, mechanics, tattoos, and ice-cream. All canon pairings, and jumps around on their timeline a lot. Includes other couples and characters, but mostly Caleo and their daughter. (Solangelo, Percabeth, Jiper, etc)
1. The proposal

**AN: I don't own PJO or HoO. Thank you, Uncle Ricky. Please leave a review if you like it!**

Leo was nervous. He thought that was kind of agiven. Frank and Nyssa assured him that this would be fine-nothing could go wrong.

They were lying. Everything could go wrong. He couldn't do this. He had to go hide under a bed.

Leo spun around on his heel but Nyssa and Frank both grabbed his arms and made him keep walking. This was actually the third time they had had to do this, and Nyssa was rolling her eyes.

"Leo, you can't turn back now. You already bought the ring. You already told her to meet you." Nyssa reminded him.

"Frank told her to meet me," Leo muttered.

"Because you had a mini panic attack, yeah." Frank sniggered.

Leo's choice of helpers might seem odd at first glance, but when Leo had thought about it they were the only people who could help him with this. Piper would love to help, but her enthusiasm might make her let something slip. Jason was in camp jupiter and Leo knew if he waited he would lose his nerve. The same was true for Hazel and Reyna. Coach Hedge was busy with finding his son Chuck a preschool. Annabeth was too scary to be asked to help, and Percy was busy teaching a horde of new campers. Which left Frank and Nyssa. And Will and Nico, who were also helping out.

Nico shadow-travelled in front of Leo, Frank, and Nyssa. "She's there, waiting for you. Will has the lightning and the music ready for your cue. You have the ring?"

"He has it." Nyssa said. "Come on Leo, you're on."

"Right, okay. I'm on. Yes." Leo probably would've stood there chattering forever if Nico hadn't rolled his eyes, grabbed Leo's arm, and shadow-travelled him to Calypso.

Calypso was waiting right where Leo (actually, Frank) had told her to be. She wore the same kind of white and golden dress she had worn on Ogygia, and thankfully hadn't noticed Nico and Leo yet. Or the lighting and sound systems hidden in the trees.

"Good luck," Nico muttered, shoving Leo into the open.

"Hi, Leo. Why did you want me to meet you here?" Calypso asked with a warm smile, turning to face Leo. Nico had already shadow-travelled away.

Leo knew he should probably say something, but he couldn't think of anything clever for once. He was too busy panicking. "Heya, Sunshine."

He pulled the black velvet box out of his pocket and dropped to one knee. Calypso's eyes widened, "Leo, what are you… ohmygods." He opened the box, the ring shining in the moonlight.

Nyssa and Will had helped him pick the ring (ever since Nico and Will had started dating last year, Will had become friends with all of the seven. After Hazel, Jason, Percy, and even Frank had threatened him not to hurt Nico, of course).

The ring was made of a gold band braided with a silver and bronze band. There was a small ruby set into it, with a tiny flower carved into the top of the ruby.

Calypso gasped, and her eyes filled with tears. She split into a huge grin, pressing her hands to her mouth. "Of course!" She exclaimed. "Yes!"

Leo, trying not to break out in hysterical laughter, slid the ring onto Calypso's finger. As soon as he stood up, Calypso kissed him.

When Leo pulled away, he murmured, "May I have this dance?"  
Calypso looked confused. "We're in the woods."

"Yeah, I know." Leo snapped his fingers high in the air, and thankfully Will was right on time. Will, by the way, was hiding in the woods with a sound set and the lights.

When Leo snapped his fingers, Will turned on the lights. Dozens of paper lanterns hung in the air over the clearing flicked on, casting a warm rosy glow across the clearing. The light showed the polished wood dance floor they were standing on. Leo snapped his fingers again, and his mom's favorite Rolling Stones song started playing.

Calypso laughed as Leo grabbed her hands and they started to dance.

They were dancing for what must have been almost an hour, until Calypso kissed Leo again.

"What was that for?" Leo asked.

"I love you, stupid imp-boy." Calypso muttered.


	2. Wedding

**AN: I don't own PJO or HoO. Thank you to Jaz L for your review, it was totally awesome.**

Calypso hadn't heard the term "cold feet" until Piper said it. It was actually pretty accurate.

"I don't know if I can do this," Calypso rambled, pacing. She still wasn't in her dress, her hair was tangled, and there were bags under her eyes from staying up late the night before with last-minute arrangements. "I mean, we still aren't sure if I'm actually a mortal now or if I'm still immortal, we don't know if I'll get older. And besides, what if this doesn't go well? I don't want to hurt Leo, but-"  
"Calypso!" Piper said, catching her arm to stop her pacing. Piper was already in her bridesmaid dress, a strapless red dress. She was the maid of honor, and had taken on the difficult job of calming down the bride. "You are Leo are perfect together. It's going to be okay, but you need to calm down. Leo loves you, it doesn't matter to him if you don't age."

"I don't… I can't…"

"You just have cold feet. You'll regret it later if you decide not to do this." Piper advised.

"Okay. You're right. Give me the dress."

Calypso's wedding dress was beautiful, that was for sure. It was soft, white, and strapless. Diamonds glittered on the bodice, and the skirt flowed out behind her. The skirt had a couple ruffles to make it thicker, and she wore white gloves up to her knees with golden embroidery on them that matched the embroidery on the skirt. Her golden veil fell down her back, and she put the beautiful engagement ring on over her glove.

"See? Everything is going to be fine. You look amazing, Cally." Piper said, beaming at her in the mirror.

"Yeah," Calypso agreed, but she was still nervous. "Who all came? Will you check?"

Piper poked her head out of the white tent where they were getting ready.

The tent sat at the back of the rows of white folding chairs. At the front was a tall white wooden arch with white and red roses grown up over it (courtesy of Katie Gardiner and the Demeter cabin).

Piper drew her head back in. "A lot of people. Come look."

Calypso peeked around the white flap of the tent to see the people in the folding chairs.

Almost every chair was full. Everyone had come. Mostly it was campers from both camps. Calypso felt nervous when she saw them-it was the gods. Hephaestus looked happier then anyone had ever seen him. He was beaming as he talked to Nyssa and Jake, his kids. They looked just as happy as he did. Aphrodite and Ares stood by the front, scrutinizing the other guests. Aphrodite was chattering away about the dresses, and Ares kept rolling his eyes. Zeus was keeping Thalia and Hera from arguing, and Poseidon was laughing with Percy. Hermes high-fived Travis Stoll and Hestia wandered the crowd, smiling at the happiness. Hades and Apollo were standing together, talking quietly and occasionally glancing towards Will and Nico, who were hand in hand.

"Oh my gods." Calypso said, pulling her head back into the tent. "I can't do this. I can't do this!"  
"Calypso," Piper said. She grabbed both of Calypso's arms and held her still. "Calypso, you need to ask yourself one thing."

"What's that?" Calypso demanded, trying to breath normally.

"Do you love Leo?"

Calypso was surprised by the question, but still didn't hesitate. She knew she did. "Of course I do."

"Then it's going to be okay. Forget about all those people out there, they can't hurt you. You and Leo are going to be happy together, you just have to relax."  
Calypso took a deep breath and nodded. "Thanks, Piper."

"Anytime, Cally."

The flap of the tent was lifted and Hazel poked her head around it. "Can we come in?"

"Yes, come on," Piper called.

Hazel, Annabeth, Reyna, and Nyssa all came in. All of them except Hazel wore dresses identical to Piper's, but soft gold instead of red. Hazel's dress was different, more in the style of the forties, and red like Piper's. Piper was the maid of honor, Hazel was the flowergirl, and the other three were bridesmaids.

"You look wonderful," Hazel told Calypso. Calypso was feeling more confident about this after Piper's pep talk and now that she had her friends around her. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Calypso said determinately.

"That's good, because it's starting." Reyna said, just as _Here Comes the Bride_ started to play. Calypso was a little surprised by the music choice-she had thought Leo would play the Rolling Stones. That was what they were going to play later at the reception. "Hazel, you're on first."  
Hazel nodded, picking up a large basket of red and white rose petals. Harley burst through the door of the tent.

"Harley, this is the girls tent!" Annabeth scolded.

"Sorry! Rings! Time to go!" Harley said, holding up a red velvet cushion with two rings resting on it. "C'mon, Hazel, let's go."

Hazel and Harley left the tent.

Calypso peeked around the cloth of the tent, watching Hazel and Harley walk down the aisle. Hazel lightly tossed rose petals on the ground as they walked, and Calypso spotted Leo standing under the white arch. Jason, Percy, Frank, and Nico stood by him in suits. She pulled back quickly.

Next Piper left the tent, followed by the other bridesmaids. Nyssa left last, with an encouraging nod to Calypso. Once the tent flap had settled behind Nyssa, Calypso waited three seconds and stepped out into the sunlight.

Calypso walked down the aisle proudly, her white-and-gold gloved hands clasped in front of her, holding her small bouquet of roses. She couldn't help smiling at the people she passed. Sally Jackson beamed proudly at Calypso from the front row-Calypso's parents couldn't be there for obvious reasons, so she had asked Ms. Jackson to walk down the aisle as her mom instead. She winked at Hephaestus as she passed him, feeling like if she grinned any more her face would start to hurt.

There was Leo, standing at the front in a suit. He had managed to comb his hair for once (though Calypso suspected his Groomsmen had held him down while Piper combed it), though he was still wearing his toolbelt. Calypso wouldn't have had it any other way.

Calypso stopped in front of Leo, trying to keep from breaking out in hysterical laughter. She was so happy she felt like she might lift off the ground, all her nervousness and doubt gone.

She didn't really listen to the long speech about living through pain and poverty and sickness and all of that. She did listen to Leo's vow, which was much less formal then it probably should have been. Half the crowd was cracking up by the time Leo was done talking.

Calypso's own vow was nowhere near as funny, but it was much more touching. Leo's smile became almost sad towards the end of it, and Calypso knew why. He had mentioned this to her a few days ago, how much he wished his mom could be here to see the wedding. Calypso told him that she was sure his mom was watching from Elysium, and he agreed.

Calypso slid Leo's ring onto his finger. It was a simple bronze band with _juntos para siempre_ and _gia panta mazi_ carved into it. It was "together forever" in Spanish and Greek. The same phrases were carved into Calypso's ring, which Leo was sliding onto her finger. Her ring was slimmer and made of gold instead of bronze, and had tiny rubies set into it. It wasn't as fancy as her engagement ring, but she loved it even more.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Cheers and clapping and whistling ran through the crowd as Leo and Calypso kissed. Calypso had never been this happy before. She had spent most of her life waiting for men that would never come back. She had thought they were so important, but only one guy in the world was important to Calypso now.

The reception was amazing. Calypso talked to everyone, and actually hugged Hephaestus (who was extremely surprised but not altogether displeased, and patted her on the back). The wedding cake was huge and chocolate with white frosting, and between Percy and Leo there was absolutely none of the cake left by the end of the evening. Calypso and Leo danced all night to Rolling Stones songs, and the other couples whirled around them. Hazel and Frank, Annabeth and Percy, Piper and Jason, Will and Nico, Katie and Travis, Sally and Paul (Poseidon tried not to look to put out), Clarisse and Chris, Reyna and her boyfriend Liam (a clear-sighted mortal).

Calypso and Leo left for their honeymoon at the end of the night, which was almost one in the morning. They were going to Mexico, and might stop in Houston for a few days to see Leo's mom's grave.

Calypso waved goodbye to their friends through the back window of their car as they were driven away from the winding-down party.

Life was looking up.

 **AN: thanks for reading! Please review or favorite/follow.**


	3. New House

**AN: I don't own PJO.**

Leo loved the new house. Technically, it was a villa. It was two stories, large enough for as many projects as he could fit inside, and had two balconies that he knew would be overflowing with plant life in no time. There was a big grassy yard with two tall oak trees as well, and a porch that he thought was big enough for him to finish that motorcycle he had been working on. It was his and Calypso's, and he loved it. They had had their first year of college in New York, but were going to finish college here in New Rome. Percy and Annabeth were already juniors, and had promised to show Leo and Calypso around the city.

Calypso had her hair tied up in a ponytail, wearing jeans and a loose white t-shirt. She walked past Leo carrying a box full of books. "Are you going to stand there gawking or planning on helping me carry these?"

"Sorry, Sunshine," Leo said, lifting the box out of her hands and almost falling over. "This thing is so heavy!"

"That or I'm just stronger then you." Calypso snickered, earning a kiss.

"Get a room, you two!" Percy said, making a gagging sound as he walked past, he and Annabeth carrying a sofa. Percy, Annabeth, and Hazel were helping them move. Frank and Reyna hadn't been able to clear their schedules (or at least that was their excuse).

They spent the whole day moving in, until everyone was gone and the villa was full of cardboard boxes. "I don't think we have to unpack. We could just get stuff out of the boxes and burn all our furniture." Leo suggested, collapsing on a kitchen chair.

"I don't think so, Valdez." Calypso smirked, sitting down next to Leo and offering a mug of hot chocolate totally covered in whipped cream, cinnamon, and marshmallows. She took a sip of her own hot chocolate. "I think we'll really be happy here. It will be nice to see more of our friends at this camp. We can finish college here, like we've planned, and then maybe start that machine shop you were thinking about."

"That would be awesome." Leo grinned. Then he looked down at his hot chocolate. "And are you sure you want me having sugar?"

Calypso smirked. "It's a risk I'm willing to take. As long as you don't light my new house on fire-"

"Your new house? It's my new house!"

"I think we could settle on _our_ new house." Calypso laughed at her husband's pouty face. "Now be good or I'm taking away your hot chocolate."

"You wouldn't dare!"  
"Willing to bet?"

They chattered and laughed for a while, just enjoying each other's company.

The next few weeks were chaotic and confused. Leo and Calypso spent days unpacking, and then started college. Leo was studying electrical engineering and Calypso was studying botany. Percy and Annabeth (marine biology and architecture) showed them around New Rome, pointing out the best restaurants and the nicest places to sit and read. They introduced them to the professors at the university and the friends they had made there. Reyna called Leo to ask him to fix one of her dogs, Argenteum.

Everything was chaos, but it was a good kind of chaos.

 **AN: sorry this chapter is so short. I didn't really have any good ideas, but I thought I should establish that they live in New Rome. Please leave a review (ideas are welcome, but I might not use them) or favorite/follow.**


	4. Leo faints (twice)

**AN: I don't own PJO.**

Calypso hadn't been this nervous since her wedding day.

It had only been six months ago that she and Leo had finished college, and they were still figuring some things out. Calypso had gotten a job tending the Garden of Bacchus on the hill that overlooked camp jupiter. It was her dream job. Leo had started a mechanics shop with the help of Nyssa and Harley, both of whom had moved to New Rome last year so Harley could go to highschool here. Nyssa hadn't bothered with college, instead working at several different places at the last two years until starting the shop with Leo.

Everything was totally perfect.

Which was the exact reason why Calypso was nervous.

If she was right (she knew she was, she had checked and double-checked and triple-checked and checked a few times more) then everything was about to change. She knew Leo loved the way things were. This news would shake him, that was for sure. Especially since they hadn't decided to.

Calypso rubbed her stomach subconsciously. Leo should be here by now.

The door of the cafe opened, and Leo came in, looking both cheerful and singed, and covered in grease.

"Good day?" Calypso asked as he sat down across from her, trying really hard not to laugh. She reached up and pinched his nose, putting out the flame there.

"You wouldn't believe! This son of Mars brought in his car and it was totalled-like seriously, half the engine was melted away with acid. Nyssa doesn't think we can fix it but I said…"

Calypso let Leo chatter away, only interrupting with the occasional "I don't think that was legal" or "fire safety hazard" or even "do Frank and Reyna know that blew up?". She knew she had to tell Leo. That was only fair, after all.

"Leo…" Calypso said, and the wary look on her face must've immediately worried him, because he stopped talking. Calypso clasped and unclasped her hands on the table.

"What's wrong, Cally?" Leo asked, looking worried. "You haven't seemed like yourself for a few days now."

Ever since Calypso had done all that double and triple checking mentioned above. "Leo, there's something I need to tell you. I want you to remain very very calm, okay? No bursting into flame or anything."

"You're scaring me, Sunshine. Just tell me what's wrong." Leo said, catching her hands. He rubbed the palms of her hands soothingly, and Calypso took a deep breath.

"Leo, I'm pregnant."

Leo froze. He stared at her, totally and completely still. Then he blinked, and slowly, slowly, took his hands back.

"Leo, I know we didn't plan this, but I think I might really like to keep it I mean we would make good parents and I know things are great right now but things can always be more great and-"

Leo stood up silently. He stood there in the middle of the cafe, totally silent and still with a blank look on his face.

"Catch me, Sunshine," Leo said, and then his eyes rolled up into his head and he fainted. He fell to the ground with a thud.

Calypso found Percy and together they carried Leo back to the villa. Percy gently set the scrawny latino down on the couch, before turning to frown at Calypso.

"What's wrong? You look like you're going to be sick. And why did Leo faint?"  
"I… I, um, told him some big news." Calypso pressed her hand to her stomach, and Percy's eyes widened.

"Really? A baby?"

"Yes, and Leo was a little surprised." Calypso motioned to the couch. Percy glanced back and forth between Leo and Calypso for a moment, before cracking up in hysterical laughter.

"Leo… fainted… because… you're… pregnant?" Percy gasped, trying to stop laughing. Now that he was laughing, Calypso realized that this was actually pretty funny. She grinned, watching her husband suck on his thumb in his sleep. When Percy finally managed to pull himself together, he asked, "Does anyone else know? Can I tell Annabeth?"  
Calypso thought about it for a moment. Now that Leo knew, there was really no reason for people not to know. Before she hadn't told anyone, because she wanted Leo to be first so he didn't find out from someone who wasn't her. Now it was alright. "Yeah. Tell everyone you want, I'm going to spend all night IMing people about it anyway, so go ahead."

Percy nodded, still grinning. "Okay. Need anything just give a shout." Calypso promised she would and he left. Then his head popped back around the front door. "Just out of curiousity, are you naming it after me?"  
"No!"

"Whatever you do, don't let Leo talk you into naming it Leo jr."

"Don't worry."

This time Percy left for real.

Calypso left Leo on the couch and climbed the stairs to the second floor. She had two balconies on opposite sides of the second floor, both full of potted plants. Leo had built an IM station for her out of bronze and marble, and they had put it on the balcony.

Calypso fished a drachma out of her pocket and tossed it into the spray. "O Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, accept this offering. Show me Piper McLean, New York City."

The image cleared to show Piper lounging on a couch with a book.

"Piper!" Calypso called. "I need to talk to you." Piper looked up and broke into a grin.

"Cally, about time you called. Jason and I are coming out for a visit, soon, don't worry."  
"That's not it. I have really big news."  
"Like what?" Piper asked, her eyes flicking down to Calypso's belly. She had already figured it out. "Are you-"

"Pregnant? Yes. I just told Leo, and he fainted."

Piper broke into a huge grin. "Really? Calypso, this is great! Do you know if its a boy or a girl? What are you going to name it?"

"I don't know! I only found out a few days ago!"

"You have to IM me when you know if its a boy or a girl. I'll tell Jason, and everybody on this coast!" Calypso nodded, and right before she could run her hand through the IM Piper called, "Don't let Leo talk you into naming it McShizzle!"

There was a groan from downstairs that told Calypso Leo had woken up. She climbed downstairs to see him sitting on the couch and rubbing his head.

"Oh, man… I have such a headache. Did all that happen? Are you really…."

Calypso nodded.

Leo fainted again.


	5. Names and Naming

**AN: I don't own PJO.**

Leo ducked the frying pan his wife had aimed at his head. "Hey!" Leo shouted as a frying pan hit his shoulder. "Ow! Valdez abuse!"

"I want pickles in chocolate ice-cream with maple syrup on it! That's what I want and you are going to get it!" Calypso scowled at him, picking up another frying pan threateningly.

"Okay! Okay! Hormones and cravings are dangerous," Leo added quietly as he sprinted out of the house and down the street. The checkout guy gave him an odd look when he set chocolate ice-cream, pickles, and maple syrup on the counter. "Don't ask, man," Leo sighed. "Don't even ask."

The guy didn't. He just quickly rang up Leo's stuff and stared at Leo as he went out the door.

Leo took the stuff back to the villa, where Calypso was sitting scowling on the couch watching Mean Girls. "I got what you wanted, Cally." Leo said.

A pregnant Calypso was very hard to live with. She had the weirdest cravings ever, and her hormones were off the charts. This usually resulted in her throwing heavy objects (usually pots and pans) at Leo's head, and grumbling about everything. She had already been pregnant for six months, and they were going to get an ultrasound that afternoon. Leo hoped it was a boy-he really wanted to name it Leo Jr.

That afternoon, they drove to the hospital in camp jupiter. They waited in the lobby for what felt like hours. Leo thanked the gods that Calypso's hormones had calmed down and she was happily flipping through a book of baby names. She pointed out several good ones, and Leo always nodded in agreement.

Finally they were led into another room. After another long wait while the nurse measured the baby's fingers and how wide around it's head was, she finally looked up at them with a smile.

"It's a girl," The nurse told them. Leo was still disappointed, but he could still name a girl Leo Jr. Calypso broke into a grin.

The next day, they started searching for baby names in earnest. "I think we should keep the name a secret until right before the baby is born." Leo said, grinning. "We could have a list of them, and cross off one a week. Just to torture our friends."

Calypso laughed. "We should so do that!"

By the end of the day, they had a long list of names written on eleven pieces of paper. One for Jason, Piper, Annabeth, Percy, Coach Hedge, Hazel, Frank, Reyna, Nico, Will, and Nyssa. The names on the list were: _Trixie, Hope, Seraphina, Esperanza, Bree, Brigid, Valerie, Bailey, Riley, Sophie, Orchid, Maxine, Juliet,_ and _April_.

"I can't wait." Calypso grinned. "We're gonna be parents!"

Then she froze.

"Ohmygods Leo we're gonna be parents. _We are going to be parents!"_

"We'll be great parents, Sunshine." Leo assured her, even though he was nowhere near sure. Calypso frowned at him.

"You're just as scared as I am. Aren't you."  
"Hades yes."

"Thanks for trying, repair boy." Calypso sighed. Then she smirked and pressed her hands to her stomach. "And no language like that around the baby!"

Leo groaned, but was shut up when Calypso kissed him. "Whatever happens," She said, pulling away. "We do this together. Right?" Leo nodded. "Then we'll be the world's greatest parents."

 _Three weeks later:_

"No! They crossed off Sophie!" Percy whined to Annabeth.

"They already cut out Riley and Seraphina. I think it will be Esperanza, that was Leo's mom's name." Annabeth said, glaring at her own list of names. Three were crossed out.

"I will bet you twenty drachmas that it's Orchid. Calypso really likes flowers."

"Annabeth grinned. "I bet it's Esperanza. For thirty drachmas."

"You're on!"

 _Six weeks after that:_

"Yes! Trixie is still on the name list!" Frank cheered.

"I still think it should be Bree." Will mused. Frank, Will, Nico, and Hazel got together every week for coffee. Mostly so Nico and Hazel could see each other and catch up on the week, but recently to debate baby names. It seemed like the coming new Valdez was all anyone could talk about in either camp.

"I like Hope," Hazel said cheerfully, looking down at her own list of names. "Nico, which do you like?"  
"I don't do baby names." Nico grumbled.

"Aw, c'mon, just the other day you were saying that you wished it was-" Will tried to say.

"Will! Fine! I like Maxine!" Nico said, turning red.

 _A week after that:_

"There are only four left. And Trixie is still on, Frank, you might win." Reyna scowled at the piece of paper with scribbled baby names on it. "But so is April, so I might win, too."  
"I have a good feeling about Trixie." Frank said.

"You better. You bet fifty denarii on it."

 _Another three weeks on:_

"That's the last name off. Now they all know." Calypso sighed, admiring her handiwork. "Who won what?"  
"Nico won ten drachmas off Will. I think everybody else was wrong." Leo said. There was only one name left on the list: _Maxine._ "We'll call her Max for short, or Maxi."

Suddenly Calypso gasped and both her hands flew to her stomach.

"Sunshine? Are you okay?" Leo asked worriedly, steadying her.

"Leo, the baby's coming."

 **AN: hope you liked it! Anyway, please leave a review or favorite/follow.**


	6. Maxine Esperanza Valdez

**AN: I don't own PJO.**

Leo paced in front of the room. He had wanted to stay with Calypso-really he had. But he had realized that something disastrous and monster-related was happening in the hallway, and he should definitely check it out immediately. And then wait out there just in case another extremely important and disastrous thing happened.

That wasn't to say he wasn't worried. He was worried. He was very very worried, so worried that when the door of the hospital room opened and a nurse came out he practically tackled him.

"Is she done? Is she okay? Is the baby okay? Is-"

"Everyone's fine! You have a healthy baby girl!" The man said, looking like he might scream at the terrifying five foot seven man standing in front of him with his hands on fire. Leo pushed past the man and into the room.

A tired-looking Calypso sat in the bed. There were bags under her eyes and she looked a little ill, but she was holding a bundle of fluffy red blankets in her arms.

Leo sped over to the bed, staring in awe at the baby girl. She had an adorable round face and a wisp of dark brown hair on top of her head. She was the perfect mix of her mother and father, with skin and features that was almost Leo and almost Calypso. She burbled and stared at Leo. Leo stared back, and he couldn't help tearing up a little.

"Hi, Max." Leo grinned. He reached into her blankets, caught her hand, and shook it. "Very nice to meet you. I'm your _papa_ , _bonita._ _ *****_ "

Calypso giggled. "She's beautiful, alright."

"I love her." Leo said truthfully. "And sorry I left, there was an important thing in the hallway." Calypso raised an eyebrow, but was too tired to argue properly.

"I'm sure there was. I asked that nurse to IM the others, so they're coming by any-"  
The door of the hospital room burst open, and the room was suddenly stuffed full with all their friends. Even Harley had come to see the baby. Nico was smirking.

"Hi, Maxine. Thank you so much, you won me drachmas." Nico said. Maxine giggled and beamed at him. Everyone crowded around the bed, cooing and chattering away about how adorable Maxine was.

"I'm your Uncle Harley! Ever need help with something illegal, I'm here to help!" Harley advised. Nyssa swatted him on the back of the head.

"I'm Aunt Nyssa. Ever need help controlling Uncle Harley, come to me."  
Eventually Maxine started crying, and everyone left again. "We can go home, too." Calypso told Leo, grinning. "The nursery is already ready, so this will go smoothly. But I think we should just move the crib into our room for the first few months, okay?" Calypso said, trying to calm Maxine down. "She won't stop crying. Leo, you try something."

"Um… okay." Leo didn't know much about babies, but he did know what always calmed him down when something was going wrong. He fished through his pockets and pulled out an old-fashioned tape recorder. He had specially made it of celestial bronze so that it wouldn't attract monsters.

He pressed the on button, knowing which song would be playing; _Get off of my cloud_ by the Rolling Stones. Maxine kept crying for a moment after he pulled the earbuds out so they could all hear the music. But then she started to calm down, and in a moment was drifting to sleep.

"Leo, how did you do that?" Calypso marvelled.

"She's a Valdez, Sunshine. That proved it."

"Of course she is. What do you think I did, steal some other person's baby?"

"You know what I mean." There was a pause for a moment. Then, "Calypso."

"Yes, Leo?" Calypso tore her eyes off her daughter with a smile, expecting a smile. But Leo's face was totally serious, and saddened. "What's wrong?"

"Do you think my mom would be proud of the things I've done?"

Calypso smiled sadly at her husband. "I know she would be. And she would love Max. Maybe the next time we see Nico we could ask him to take down a family picture for us or something, okay?"

Leo considered that for a moment, then nodded. "I'd like her to see Max."  
"Don't worry," Calypso assured him. Then she looked back down at her daughter. "Our only job now is keeping her safe."

"Yeah." Leo agreed without hesitation. "For what it's worth, I think we're going to be pretty good at it."

Calypso grinned. "She's a Valdez. She's going to be so amazing."

"I know she is."

 **AN: Please leave a review or favorite/follow.**

 ***translation:** _ **papa**_ **means dad and** _ **bonita**_ **means beautiful**


	7. Access Denied

**AN: I don't own PJO. The song the band plays is** " _ **Angel in Snow"**_ **by the Dollyrots (one of my favorite bands). I don't own it!**

 **This chapter takes place years later, because this story is going to start skipping around the timeline. In this chapter, Maxine is already fifteen. I know, she was an adorable newborn just a chapter ago (they grow up so fast) but I'm skipping around so there will be other chapters about her when she's little. Any questions? Prepare for them to be ignored! Here we go!**

Maxine passed the microphone from one hand to the other as she glared at herself in the full-length mirror propped against her bedroom wall. She resembled both her parents-the perfect mix, as her dad told her. She had long dark brown curls that spilled down around her shoulders, a round pretty face, big dark brown eyes, and she wasn't unusually tall or short. She wore torn jeans, her favorite black leather boots that she had gotten last Halloween when she dressed up as a pirate, an army jacket with pins for different bands on it, and a white t-shirt with a rainbow musical note on it.

She took a deep breath. She could do this.

Maxine picked up the notebook resting on her nightstand. Clutching the notebook and microphone with one in each hand, she trooped down the stairs. She knew her friends would be waiting, but she was scared. Stage-fright.

She left the house and turned down different streets and alleys. She finally reached the park, where her friends were waiting. Trixie Stoll, Selena Rodriguez, Raiden Grace, and the twins Cassie and Charles Jackson. They were all around her own age, fifteen. Selena and Trixie were one year and years older, respectively. Raiden was six months younger then Maxine, so still technically fifteen, and the twins were fourteen. Their band name was _Access Denied_.

They were becoming really popular, and played for the mortals all the time. But this would be their first concert in New Rome, even though they had all heard _Access Denied_ music before. Max was nervous.

"We were beginning to think you weren't coming, Valdez." Selena Rodriguez said, leaning against her van. She didn't actually perform with the band, but she was backup guitar and arranged most everything. She also drove the van, earning the nickname "getaway driver".

"Not getting rid of me that easily." Max flashed her a grin.

"We were practicing the singing!" Trixie Stoll laughed. It was well-known that she couldn't sing to save her life, but her awesomeness on the drums made up for it.

"Death by listening-to-Trixie-sing." Cassie Jackson pretended to shudder. "So cruel." Her twin Charles smiled.

"Are we going or what? We can't be late to our own concert." Raiden said, tapping his watch. He hates being late.

Maxine nodded, and they all climbed into the van. It was a tight fit, so Raiden always had to fly along over them (Max didn't think he minded, because it gave him the chance to show off).

They got to the concert three minutes late, sending them scrambling onto the stage. The crowd was roaring, and it sounded like everyone in New Rome and Camp Half-Blood had shown up.

Max positioned herself at the front, feeling nervous. She was lead singer. Trixie moved to the back with her drumset, twirling drumsticks between her fingers. Cassie and Charles picked up their guitars, and Raiden (the other singer) took his base guitar. Selena offered a thumbs-up before ducking off the stage.

The curtain drew apart, and Max saw a sea of faces below her.

 _ **(Angel in Snow by the Dollyrots)**_

Trixie started first on the drums, quickly joined by Cassie, Raiden, and Charles with their guitars. Max waited and took a deep breath as they played the short intro, then began to sing.

 _She's the envy of all the passing strangers_

 _Like a living doll_

 _She's got her head up so high, with eyes like daggers_

 _The girls got it all_

This was a new song they hadn't played before. Max wasn't sure if the crowd would like it or if she would sing all the notes right.

 _When night comes, it's dark and she's_

 _dancing all alone_

 _She's crying and bleeding and broken down to her soul_

Raiden joined in on the word "soul", with Cassie singing softly as well. Charles never sang-he never talked, either. Nobody knew why, but nobody cared that much. Besides, Cassie always knew what he meant.

 _One angel in snow_

 _Thinks you don't know_

 _She's the angel in snow_

 _sky sky sky sky_

 _high high high high_

The others stopped singing for the next verse, leaving Max to sing on alone as they played along.

 _Alarm rings_

 _Visine for her eyes and caffeine_

 _stumbles to the door and she_

 _puts on her powder mask and costume_

Raiden joined in for the next line, but then cut off again.

 _but who's she doin it for_

Now Max was singing mostly on her own, Raiden quietly echoing my words as the guitar got louder. Max felt her nerves slip away as the crowd cheered. She remembered her mom singing for her when she was little, and had never been prouder.

 _A bubble that's floating and shining with rainbows_

 _bursting and falling and dying down to her soul_

Once again everyone who could sing (meaning not mute and not Trixie) joined in on the word "soul". The whole crowd was cheering so Max could barely hear the notes she was supposed to come in on but was on time anyway.

 _One angel in snow_

 _Thinks we don't know_

 _She's the angel in snow_

Everyone joined in again.

 _sky sky sky sky_

 _high high high high_

 _A rebel, a rebel, a rebel, a rebel_

 _A fighter, a fighter, a fighter, a fighter_

Now everyone else silenced to play their instruments, leaving Max's voice the only one on the stage as she sang the next verse.

 _(ooh) She's got a ride and you know she's gonna take it_

 _Right out of this town cause she's_

 _got no one left to try and stop her_

 _Was lost and now found_

Raiden joined in for the next verse

 _When night comes it's dark and_

 _still dancing all alone_

 _a bubble that's growing and blasting off in her soul_

Now Cassie joined in as well for the final part of the song.

 _One angel in snow_

 _Thinks we don't know_

 _She's the angel in snow_

 _Sky sky sky sky_

 _high high high high_

 _(ooh) she's the angel in snow_

 _A rebel a rebel a rebel a rebel_

 _a fighter a fighter a fighter a fighter_

Cassie and Charles ended the song on their guitars, and the crowd went wild. Trixie whooped and threw her drumsticks up in the air, catching them again easily. Max knew the whole band was grinning, the crowd screaming their appreciation.

Max loved singing and playing music. It was her favorite thing to do, other then hang out with her friends and probably fiddle with machines in her dads workshop. But music was definitely the best thing in the world.

 **AN: how do you guys like my vision of Maxine and her friends in the future? Is it okay Leo and Calypso weren't in this chapter? Please review!**


	8. Playing with fire

**AN: I don't own PJO. This chapter is back in time again, with three-year-old Maxine.**

Leo and Calypso were trying to explain to Max why she couldn't touch the flame the stove made when it was turned on. She was very stubbornly not listening to them.

"Max, honey, you can't play with fire. It will burn you, and then you'd be sad." Calypso tried.

"Well it might not hurt her, I mean-"

Calypso smacked Leo on the back of the head to shut him up.

Max looked back and forth between her parents with big innocent eyes. "Fire not bad. I no sad."

" _Bonita,_ fire hurts people. You can't touch it because it would hurt, and we don't want you to get hurt. Remember when I told you you couldn't play with my power tools? It's like that." Leo explained. Calypso frowned at him.

"When did that happen?"  
"Um, not important." Leo said, turning red. He turned back to his daughter, who was sitting on the kitchen counter and swinging her legs. "Do you understand, Max?"

"Yes." Max chirped. Calypso shook her head, impressed. She still didn't understand how Leo always got through to Maxine. It was like they were mentally linked.

"Cool. Let's go watch TV or something, okay? Not fire-related?" Leo said, scooping her up and carrying her into the living room.

Leo and Maxine sat down on the couch, and Leo flicked the TV on. _Ice Age 2_ was playing. Leo half-slept half-watched-Maxine as the movie played. Maxine sat in his lap, giggling at the sloth. What was his name? Oh, yeah. Sid.

Leo watched the sloth get carried away by smaller sloths. He was almost fully asleep, when the little sloths all yelled as one, " _Fire!"_

Maxine burst into flame.

Leo gave a high-pitched scream of terror, picking her up and passing her from hand to hand like a hot potato. Which, in a way, she was.

Calypso skidded into the room. "Leo! What-" She spotted Maxine. "OHMYGODS LEO THE BABY IS ON FIRE."

"I noticed!" Leo yelled.

Calypso tried to take Maxine from him, but drew her hands back quickly. "I can't touch her! Leo put her in the sink!"

Maxine giggled as her clothes turned to ash, leaving her in her fire-proof diaper. Leo had gotten them specially, just in case. Of course, he hadn't thought it was actually going to _happen._

The smoke from the flaming baby turned the sprinklers on, and suddenly they were all taking an unplanned shower. Calypso squeaked and Leo spluttered as the hot steam from Maxine hit in the face. The water quickly put Max out, and she giggled watching her parents panic and try to figure out how to turn the sprinklers off.

When everything finally calmed down, Leo left Calypso to dry off their living room. He took Max to the indoor pool in the middle of New Rome. Percy was there, the way he always was afternoons. The two-year-old twins were there, too, swimming around happily in the pool.

"Percy! I need water demigod help!" Leo said. He was carrying Maxine, and Percy immediately noticed that, A: Maxine's hair was smoking, B: Leo's clothes were singed, and C: Leo looked panicky.

"What happened, man?" Percy asked, wondering whether he should panic or start laughing at the terrified look on Leo's face.

"Max caught on fire. On her own!" Leo explained. Max giggled and waved at Percy.

"I did fire like _papa_!" She said.

"What can I do to help?" Percy asked.

"I was hoping you could be on fire extinguisher duty. I want to see if she can learn to control it, but a fire extinguisher might suffocate her." Leo explained.

"Sure." Percy said. The twins had noticed Leo and Max, and were swimming over. They scrambled out of the water and made a beeline for Maxine.

"Maxi!" Cassie squealed, hugging the older legacy. "You here!"

Charles hugged Max, too, though he didn't say anything. Nobody was sure whether they should be worried that Charles still hadn't talked. Cassie chattered away for both of them, but Charles hadn't said a word. He wasn't deaf, so the doctors assured Percy and Annabeth that he would talk in his own time.

"Hi! Cassie, Charlie!" Max giggled. They tried to lead her toward the pool, but Percy lifted one up with each hand.

"Sorry, Jacksons. Max has something she has to do before you can play. And remember, not everybody can breath underwater like you." Cass and Charles nodded enthusiastically. "Okay. We're going to watch. Ready, Aquaman?" Charles nodded. "Ready, Princess Ariel?"

"Yeah!" Cassie giggled.

"Okay, go." Percy said to Leo. Leo nodded and picked up Max.

"Max, remember how you lit on fire earlier?"

Max nodded. "You screamed."

Percy snickered. Leo ignored him. "Yeah. Though it was more a yell then a scream. Do you think you can light on fire the way you did, _bonita?_ "  
Max nodded cheerfully. Then she was on fire. It was all Leo could do not to drop her in surprise-he hadn't expected her to do it so easily.

"Okay, can you turn it off again?" Leo asked hopefully. The twins cowered behind their dad's legs, staring at Max in awe.

Max squeezed her eyes shut. "Me can't!"

"Percy, now would be good." Leo called. Percy focused on Maxine, and the water of the pool lifted up. A light spray of water tumbled over the three-year-old, like being in a shower. Maxine was quickly put out.

" _Papa_ , how come me couldn't stop?" Max asked, looking worried.

"It's hard to control fire, _bonita._ I couldn't control my fire when I was your age. I was lots of years older when I figured it out, because I had nobody to teach me. But I'm going to help you control it, okay?" Leo said. Max nodded.

Percy watched curiously. He had never heard Leo describe what it was like to use fire.

"I know it feels too powerful for you to control, like it's going to take you over. But fire is a gift, not a curse. You just learn how to talk to it. You can feel the power in your tummy, right?" Leo tapped her belly, making her giggle. Max was crazy ticklish. "You draw from it when you make fire. But to get rid of the fire, you draw it in. Like taking a deep breath. Can you try again?"  
Max nodded, catching on fire. With Leo's help, she tried to stop burning. But after ten minutes, she still hadn't managed it. Leo shook his head at Percy, who sprayed Max again with pool water.

They practiced almost another dozen times, Leo trying lots of different tactics. She finally managed it, but it drained her. She fell asleep in Leo's arms. Leo grinned at Percy. "Thanks, buddy. I owe you one."

"I think that could be repaid with ice-cream." Percy grinned.

Leo groaned. "Fine. Hold pyro here." He handed off the sleeping Max.

"Can we have ice-cream?" Cassie asked hopefully.

"Can you say no to these faces?" Percy needled Leo.

"Yes! C'mon, Uncle Leo will get you your fix!" The twins giggled and ran with Leo to find ice-cream.

Maxine stayed asleep, resting peacefully in her "uncle's" arms. The seven, Reyna, and Nico and Will had decided that it would be easiest if their kids just thought of the other adults as their aunts and uncles. It had been "Uncle Leo's" idea, but nobody had argued.

Leo and the twins found their way back with ice-cream, only to find Percy sleeping on the bleachers with Maxine wide-awake in his arms. He was drooling.

"Maxi, did da-da go to sleep?" Cassie giggled.

Max nodded, holding a finger to her lips. "Shh! No wanna wake him up!"

 **AN: thanks for reading. Please leave a review, ideas welcome.**


	9. Thirty drachma and a metal monster

**AN: I don't own PJO.**

Maxine glared at him. "Oh, yeah? Wanna put your money where your mouth is?"  
Tommy Ramirez-Arellano grinned. "Fine. Twenty denarii you couldn't do it."

"Thirty _drachmas_ , and your on." Max snapped.

Tommy and Max didn't get along. They were both friendly to everyone but each other-it was something their parents couldn't fathom, and nobody else could either. Not even Max and Tommy themselves were sure why they always fought, they just _did._ They were both thirteen, so an age difference wasn't the answer. They just couldn't get along.

After the war with Gaea, the children of Vulcan at camp jupiter had built a fighting simulator. Reyna had seen how unprepared the romans were for fighting opponents like the giants, so the simulator had automaton versions of every type of monster there was. You could get hurt, but the automatons were programmed to stop attacking before they killed you.

"Guys, this is a stupid idea," Raiden interrupted, trying to step between them.

"Yeah, we aren't supposed to go over level four." Cassie looked nervous. Charles caught Max's arm and shook his head at her. She yanked away and snatched up her golden sword.

"Don't care. I'm about to win me thirty drachmas." Max said, striding into the simulator room. Tommy went into the operations room. "Level ten, like we agreed!" She shouted, and Tommy nodded from the operations room as her friends crowded in with him to get out of the way.

The ground slid open, and a platform lifted up, with the huge metal monster on it. It was a giant. It whirred to life, straightening its head and holding up it's spear. Max normally would've wondered why it was wearing a leotard, but she was too busy thinking _oh shisct I think this might've not been such a great idea after all._

She drew her sword anyway.

Max dove to the side, the giant metal spear crashing into the ground where she had stood a moment before. She scrambled to her feet, sprinted towards the automaton's feet. She leaped up and slashed the giant's leg. The huge health bar built into it's chest went down by only about a centimeter, and she cursed.

The spear swung towards her, and she ducked, feeling it pass over her head by six inches tops. The spear flew back at her again, and she braced herself for the impact as she grabbed the long shaft. The giant metal automaton roared, lifting the spear with the thirteen-year-old legacy clinging to it for dear life. It shook it angrily, and Max wrapped her arms around it to stay holding on.

As she flew past, she saw her friends in the operations booth frantically trying to shut off the automaton. Something was surging towards the booth from the hills-it looked like monsters. But monsters couldn't get into camp, right?

Max felt the spear turn point towards the ground, making her hang there upside down. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed to any god that was listening that those weren't monsters.

The spear started shaking, and she lost her grip. Max screamed as she fell toward the ground headfirst, but something grabbed her foot. The giant metal automaton lifted her by her ankle, making it flare with pain. She twisted up and grabbed it's fingers, nearly passing out as the blood rushed back to her brain.

Max heard a scream from the operations room. Monsters totally surrounded it, and they were dragging her friends out and trying them up, tossing them onto the ground.

She could only hope that someone in the city would look towards the field of mars and see what was going on. She also cursed her own stupidity-if she wasn't doing this stupid bet, she would be down there to help fight! As she watched, Selena punched a drakon in the nose, snatching its sword. Tommy fought, too, but both quickly found themselves underneath a pile of monsters.

Max knew she needed to get the attention of the campers. Her dad could help, and she pitied any monster that invoked the wrath of her mom. The giant was still holding her, frozen. She had just lost, because she couldn't free herself, so now was the time when someone in the operations room would turn the thing off. But the monsters didn't seem to see her, just the huge frozen metal statue.

She used one hand to cling to the giant's finger, and used the other to reach between the metal monster's fingers to the palm of it's hand. She had watched her dad help built this monster-there was an access panel on the palm of the right hand. She snapped her fingers, conjuring a tiny flame that she used to melt through the access panel. Max couldn't see the wiring inside, but she could sense it. She just had to reroute that and disconnect that….

A minute later, she connected the last wire. The monsters that had her friends prisoner were arguing, like they didn't know what to do next.

The giant whirred to life, just the way Max knew it would. She reached into the pocket of her army jacket with the hand she had melted the panel with. The jacket had been a present from Hephaestus years before-it was fireproof like the clothes her mom made, but also had enchanted pockets like her dad's tool belt. She pulled out a microphone, which she connected to the panel. She pressed the switch on the side of the microphone, grinning.

As Max spoke into the microphone, the huge metal giant started to bellow her words in her voice as loud as it could-so loud her ears rang.

" _Monsters are on the field of Mars! About two dozen of them, so bring all your friends! Calling all Romans, grab those torches and pitchforks! Field of Mars, everybody, ASAP! Please and thank you!"_

There was no way they hadn't heard that in the city.

The monsters heard as well, and started freaking out. Max guessed they thought they could take the romans, because after a moment of chaos they drew their weapons and charged towards the city. But a wave of romans with weapons and armor was coming at them, and in a moment they were dust.

Max's friends on the ground started whooping and cheering, and she called into the microphone again.

The giant boomed in her voice, " _Also, would somebody mind getting me down from this stupid metal giant? My foot's asleep."_

Needless to say, their parents were less then happy with their stunt. Well, Leo wasn't. He started talking about the integrity of the panel and how hard that machine would've been to hotwire for a normal kid. He actually seemed really impressed with Max.

Calypso, on the other hand, was irate.

"What were you _thinking_ , you could've been _killed_ there's a _reason_ you aren't allowed to spar with the level ten automatons, it is _dangerous,_ you're only a level _four_ …" etc. etc.

Calypso eventually sentenced Max to a month grounded. But Max didn't mind-she had won thirty drachma off of Tommy Ramirez-Arellano. And that was something.


	10. Sick day

**AN: I don't own PJO**

Calypso hated it when Maxine got sick. It wasn't that she couldn't be bothered, it was that she didn't like seeing her daughter so miserable. Max would curl up under the blankets silently and watch cartoons all day.

So whenever Max was sick, Calypso knew there was only one place to take her; her father's machine shop in the city. She would carry her six-year-old daughter there piggy-back style, drop her on Leo's desk, and make herself scarce.

Max loved her father's machine shop. It wasn't only that her favorite aunt and uncle, Nyssa and Harley (who had just finished his second year of college and had an internship at the shop for the summer), were always there. Or that Leo let her have soda and fonzies (a strange food that both Leo and Max loved more then life itself) as soon as Calypso's back was turned. It was the machines.

Calypso didn't understand how Max did it, but she did. She just pressed her hands to the sides of a machine, and she knew how the inner workings of the machine all fit together. Leo was always happy to explain what each part did and how they moved together to make the machine work. Nyssa would interrupt to correct him when he got something wrong or when he was being confusing, and Harley stole fonzies while Max was distracted.

It was no wonder that the machine shop was Max's favorite place.

And today was no exception. Calypso was just glad it was the summer so Max didn't have to go to school today. She picked up the sick Max and carried her to the car, setting her in the front passenger seat. "Machine shop, Maxi?" Calypso asked, and Max nodded, blowing her nose.

"Is Uncle Harley there?"

"Probably. It's not one of his days off."

"He always steals my fonzies." Max said, blowing her nose again. "But he lets me play with his welding torch."

"He shouldn't." Calypso said, pulling the car up in front of the Leo's shop. She carried Max piggy back inside.

The shop was larger then the ones around it. The main area was a large room with a concrete floor splattered with paint from the previous owners. There was a door to Leo's private office at the back, with **MCSHIZZLE** written on the glass in black caps. The other private office was Nyssa's. A car was lifted a foot off the ground in the middle of the large room, and Harley's feet poked out from underneath it. Nyssa was sitting criss cross applesauce on a work bench with a mini fridge instead of its left two legs, working on the toaster set in her lap. Rolling Stones played from Leo's office since the door was open, and the whole place smelled of hot metal and engine grease.

"Hi, Calypso." Nyssa called with a small smile for her niece. "Not feeling well?"

Max shook her head, but was already brightening at being in her favorite place. She jumped down from her Calypso's back and hurried to the car that Harley was working on. He always put in earbuds to listen to jazz while he worked, so he didn't know they were there yet. Max loved to try and scare him.

"Boo!" Max shouted, poking her head underneath the car.

There was a shriek and a bang as Harley his his head on the underside of the car. Max pulled her head back out, giggling. Harley scrambled out from under the car, groaning and rubbing his forehead with one dirty hand. Harley looked different then he had when he was a kid and Leo had first met him-of course he did. His messy dark blond hair fell in brown eyes, he wore an unbuttoned green plaid shirt over a white t-shirt, jeans, and converse. The girl's at the college stared at him, but Harley didn't seem to notice or care.

"You're evil, kiddo." He groaned, but he was smirking. "It's why I love you."

"Harley, don't encourage evil." Nyssa scolded in her older-sister voice. Max giggled again and hugged her uncle. Calypso smiled, waved to Max, and left again, nearly running into Leo as he burst in through the front door.

"I got-oh, hi Sunshine! Max sick?" Leo grinned, holding a Starbucks coffee cup in each hand. "I got coffee, guys."

"Only two?" Nyssa asked, raising an eyebrow. Calypso slipped out.

"There was an incident involving a wild chariot and the third coffee. Don't worry, you guys can have these."

Harley took one, holding it out of Max's reach. They all knew it was dangerous to give the hyperactive legacy anything sugared or caffeinated. "Sorry, squirt. Your mom would kill me, and I like my head where it is."

Max pretended to pout until Nyssa opened the mini fridge holding up her workbench and tossed her niece a lemonade. "Cheer up, Maxi." Nyssa called, going back to her disassembled toaster. "I'm sure Uncle Harley will show you how that car engine works, since your _dad_ has some _very important_ paperwork he needs to do." Nyssa shot a _get going, buster_ look to a guilty-looking Leo. "He has to repay the city for blowing up that statue in the park."

"It was an accident!" Leo protested, but he was already halfway into his office. "Annabeth told me about how all the statues in New York walk and talk and stuff, so I wanted to make the statue in the park do that, but suddenly I was attacked by ninjas, so-"

Nyssa rolled her eyes, but Harley and Max snickered.

Harley scooted back underneath the car with Max and showed her what he was working on. They worked together and quickly fixed the engine. Nyssa fixed the toaster, a coffee maker, and some speakers. Leo had to leave again to make some adjustments to the plans for the large metal automatons he and Reyna and Frank wanted to build for demigods to use to train.

Max finally got bored with the car engine and wandered into her dad's office. The entire wall over his desk was full of photos and her crayon drawings. Her favorite photo showed her parents and all their friends when they were younger, just a week after they defeated Gaea (she had been told that story, but with none of the death and gore and Tartarus included). They all looked bruised, dirty, and tired, but definitely happy. There were other photos-her parents on their wedding day, Frank and Hazel sitting on horses, Nyssa and Harley at the grand opening of the shop. But most of the photos were of Max; there she was as a newborn baby, on her first birthday with cake in her hair, last year on her first day of kindergarten arm-in-arm with Raiden, and jumping into the pool with the Jackson twins. Her crayon drawings were hung up as well. She especially liked the one she had drawn of their house with her and Leo and Calypso standing in front of it.

" _Bonita? Estas aqui?_ " (translation: Beautiful? Are you here?) Leo called, poking his head around the door of the office.

"I'm here, _papa._ " (translation: dad) Max said, beaming at him.

"It's lunchtime, Max. You coming or what?" He held out his hand, and Max grabbed it. He led her out of the shop to the cafe where Nyssa and Harley were already waiting. Max had been here before with them-they had the best scones in the city.

Halfway through lunch Hazel, Frank, and Reyna showed up for food. Hazel promised Max she could come and see the horses that weekend. Frank, Reyna, and Leo talked away about the modifications Leo wanted to make to Reyna's dogs Aurum and Argenteum. Nyssa and Harley argued quietly about whether or not he should ask out the girl he liked in his electrical engineering course, turning Harley's face darker and darker shades of red.

It was a good day.

 **AN: please review or favorite/follow if you like this story!**


	11. Uncle Will and Uncle Nico

**AN: I don't own PJO.**

"Leo, are you sure this is a good idea?" Calypso asked, frowning at Leo. Leo was sitting on the kitchen counter and drinking coffee.

"Sure! It's great. Nico and Will love her, everything will be fine."

"Leo. They have no experience with little kids. She's four. Couldn't she stay with Jason and Piper? She and Raiden love each other."

"They'll be fine!"

"For a whole week?"  
"Sparky and Beauty Queen are at camp half-blood. Beast Boy and Hazel still aren't back from their trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Piper and Annabeth have their hands full with Cassie and Charles. Reyna is…. I don't even know. But the worst thing that could happen is Will spoiling her. Harley and Nyssa promised they would stop by a few times and make sure the house wasn't on fire or anything. It will be great!"

"What if she's crying? Or she gets hurt? _Or what if she asks Nico about the Giant war?_ He doesn't know to sugarcoat stuff!" Calypso was practically hyperventilating.

"Don't worry, Sunshine!" Leo slid off the counter and linked their arms. "Max adores them. I'm sure she'll be good."  
Calypso gave him a look like, _she really won't._

"Well, she won't light stuff on fire."

Another look.

"She won't light anything important on fire."  
Another look.

"She might kill them. But we need a vacation. Everything will be fine, Cally. Don't worry."

"I'm worrying!"

But that afternoon, Leo and Calypso dropped Max off at Nico and Will's house. It was a reasonably sized villa in the middle of the city, near the college where Nico was a professor. Will was a doctor working at Fort Jupiter.

"Uncle Nico!" Max tackle-hugged Nico when the front door opened, almost making him fall over. "I'm here!"

"I can tell, shortstop." Nico said with a slight smile. "Hi, Leo. Hi, Calypso."

Will appeared behind Nico, beaming. Max released Nico's legs to get picked up by Will and set on his shoulders. She cackled and hugged his neck. "Hi Uncle Will!"

"You good, _bonita?_ " Leo asked, looking up at his cheerful daughter.

Will smirked and pretended to blush. "Oh, you."

"Don't blush, darling." Leo cackled, and Nico and Calypso rolled their eyes. Will and Leo had the weirdest habit of either pretending to flirt or pretending to make fun of each other when they met. Nobody could fathom it. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Leo had been the first to find out about, as he called it, Solangelo. After he accidentally walked into the Hades cabin while they were kissing. And he had kept quiet about it for three more weeks until Will and Nico agreed to tell everybody (which they were sure had almost made the ADHD demigod's brain explode).

Once Leo and Calypso were gone on their weeklong trip to Hawaii (Calypso had been missing the island climate), Will carried Max into the house.

Nico eyed the four-year-old nervously as his husband Will pretended to almost drop her. Nico didn't know much about little kids-by which he meant absolutely zip. Apparently Will had delivered babies, and he said it was probably roundabout the same thing. Nico had told him he had a head full of schist. And now they were taking care of the smallest Valdez for a week. And it didn't help that this little kid apparently caught on fire when she was angry or upset, or just whenever she felt like it. Nico had stocked up on fire extinguishers at the store and double-checked the fire alarms, even though Will had told him he was being paranoid.

"Uncle Nico! Uncle Nico!"

Max was tugging on the sleeve of his hoodie. Nico looked down at her and smiled-he couldn't help it. She was the cutest kid he had ever seen, with big innocent dark brown eyes. "Yes, _piccolo_?" (translation from Italian: tiny).

"Can we have ice-cream for dinner? _Pleeease?_ " She slid her tiny hand into his, and Nico couldn't say no.

"I guess so…."  
"That's so unhealthy!" Will scolded from the couch. "Half your plate should be green."

"Pistachio ice-cream?" Max said hopefully. Nico smirked.

"She's got you, doc. Pistachio ice-cream is green."

Will groaned. "If you never tell your parents, then sure. As long as we eat healthier tomorrow."

"We will." Nico said, winking at Max, who giggled.

They went down the street to the ice-cream place, but Max took so long deciding what flavor she wanted they just got a pint of everything (the way she probably knew they would, from the smug look on her face). They ate their "dinner" while watching the Avengers movies. Max's favorite was Ironman, and she chattered away about how her papa had ideas for how to build a suit like that for her for her birthday and how he said she shouldn't tell anyone so her mommy wouldn't find out and make them not build it but Uncle Will and Uncle Leo wouldn't tell anyone, right?

Will's favorite was Hawkeye, and he watched him shoot arrows with curiosity. Will was pretty skilled with the bow, but he was better with medicine. Nico said he didn't have a favorite because they were all dumb, but he geeked out about Captain America twice.

Everything was going extremely well until it was time for Max to go to sleep. "Bedtime" was apparently not a concept she was friendly with. So instead she lit on fire and made a break for it down the street.

"Max!" Will shouted, sprinting after her. But she was fast for a four-year-old.

Nico rolled his eyes and shadow-travelled to right in front of Maxine. He sprayed her with a hose until the fire was put out, then carried her inside. She tried to kick him several times, but Will finally promised her more ice-cream tomorrow if she did what she was supposed to (Nico was sure it physically pained his husband to encourage unhealthy eating), and Max gave in.

When she was almost asleep in the guest bedroom, she asked Nico sleepily, "How come you and Uncle Will don't have a kid? That I could play with?"

"Um… your parents haven't explained this? I think you should ask Calypso this."

"No…" Max frowned. "Uncle Nico, where to babies come from?"  
Nico ran for his life.


	12. Never take a dare from Trixie Stoll

**AN: I don't own PJO.**

Raiden Grace was woken at three in the morning by someone tapping on his bedroom window. He didn't panic, didn't get his weapon, didn't call his parents. Because he already knew who's face would be at the window, hoping to be let in and given a place to hide for the night after her latest mischief.

He yawned as he opened the window for his best friend, Maxine Valdez. Max grinned at him.

"Morning, Grace. You look like Tartarus." She whispered, careful not to wake his parents in the next room. Jason and Piper weren't exactly happy when she broke in during the middle of the night, and her parents were even less happy when they got called by an annoyed Jason and Piper about something Max had done. Not that Raiden's parents often did that-they liked Max. But they, unlike him, needed their beauty sleep.

"Looked in a mirror lately?"  
"Of course, you always look like that, so it isn't saying anything."

"It's "in" this season."

They grinned at each other, then high-fived. "Can I crash here tonight?" Max asked, collapsing on his desk chair. "I screwed up."

"No kidding." Raiden said, sitting down on his bed and sipping his coffee. The fifteen-year-old always kept coffee by his bed for these occasions.

Max looked confused. "You already know?"  
"Wait, we aren't talking about your face?"

Max rolled her eyes, but she was grinning. "Funny, Grace. Seriously, I'm in hot water this time."

"Unlike all those other times?"

Max shrugged modestly. "This is worst. My parents will be so pissed. Even my dad, and he usually isn't."

Raiden was actually getting nervous. If something could anger Leo Valdez, the most laid-back person Raiden knew, then it must be really bad.

"What did you do, spray-paint "loser" on the back of Zeus's throne?"  
"Worse."

"Summon an army of monsters into camp?"

"Worse."

"Try and break Ares's nose?"

"Worse."

"Just tell me already!" Raiden said, getting a little annoyed. He didn't mean to charmspeak-he really honestly didn't. Sometimes it just slipped out, like the time he'd accidentally electrocuted his math teacher. He wasn't fully in control, unlike Max. She hadn't accidentally lit something on fire for years.

Max's eyes glazed over. "I got a tattoo."

Raiden squeaked and nearly spilled cold coffee on himself.

"You're totally dead. Can I see it?"

Max nodded and turned so her back was to him, tugging down her collar just a bit. Raiden pulled off the bandage. There was a small simple red flame symbol tattooed on the top of her spine.

"If you wear turtlenecks for the rest of your life, they won't even notice."  
"That's helpful, thanks." Max said, turning to face him again. Even in the dark, Raiden could see she was worried.

"Right. We could get it removed?"

"The tattoo place closed. I was the last customer."  
"Or not. You could run away and live among the woodland creatures?"  
"Probably not. Also, shut up."

"This is your mess, Max. You wanna suggest something, be my guest. Why did you even get a tat if you're so eager to get rid of it again?"  
"I got dared! Trixie dared me!"

Raiden groaned. Of course Trixie Stoll had something to do with this-she usually did. She and Max were always daring each other to do stupid things, but this was the worst yet. "We were having a sleepover, and she dared me. I came straight here after the tattoo parlor. Trixie's promised to cover for me with my folks for as long as she can."

"So how long will that be?"  
"Noon tomorrow? Sooner?" Max guessed.

"Okay." Raiden said, nodding and running a hand through his blond hair (which was already sticking up from sleep). He didn't look quite like his mom, or quite like his dad. He had Jason's blond hair, but Piper's eyes and skin. He was pretty tall and muscular for a fifteen-year-old, but still shorter then his Aunt Thalia (which meant he was way taller then Max). It was strange to think that his next birthday he would officially be older then his aunt. "Right. Noon tomorrow."

"Am I doomed?"  
"You are so doomed."

"Great."

They both sat in silence as long as they could stand, desperately grasping for ideas. Finally, Raiden perked up. "I got it!"

"What what what what?" Max asked eagerly, though still quiet enough not to wake his parents.

"Let me get dressed first. You, go on my computer and google, 'how to remove a tattoo at home fast'." Raiden instructed, sorting through his closet for clean clothes. Max looked a little worried, but did. Once Raiden was back out of the bathroom in jeans and a gray t-shirt, he leaned over Max's shoulder to see the results on the laptop.

"This one looks good." Max said, pointing to one article. "Removing tattoo's with salt."

"Isn't that supposed to be painful and ineffective?" Raiden asked skeptically.

"This site says it's okay if you wash the salt off really fast."

"Max, look at my face."

"I'm looking?"  
"This is my disbelieving face."

"Shut up and get the salt from the kitchen."

Half an hour later, Max was bent over the kitchen sink, Raiden standing over her holding hydrogen peroxide and a half-cup of salt. "The website says it's gonna hurt and bleed." Raiden told her.

Max nodded. "Do it already."

Raiden nodded reluctantly, and followed the instructions on the site. They were okay until they got to, _Step four: wash off the salt quickly or else it is going to cause a bit of pain._

"OHMYGODS IT BURNS." Max squealed, trying desperately not to yell loud enough to wake Raiden's parents. Raiden winced in sympathy as he quickly washed the salt off the wound. "WHO'S IDEA WAS THIS?"

"We'll get Trixie back for this dare, don't worry." Raiden promised. "I hafta put the hydrogen peroxide on it so it doesn't get infected. It's going to hurt."  
"NO KIDDING."

Raiden poured hydrogen peroxide on the tattoo, and this time Max actually screamed.

They both froze at the same time, slowly straightening to stare at the ceiling in horror. But after a moment, when neither Jason or Piper came pounding down the stairs to kill the attacking monster, they went back to work.

Raiden washed off the hydrogen peroxide.

Jason flew down the stairs just as Raiden taped the gauze onto Max's back. Max, who was still bent over the sink, couldn't see what was going on. "Raiden? What is it?" She straightened up and turned, and went just as pale as her best friend.

Jason glared at them. "Okay. What."

It took some explaining. Jason finally agreed not to tell Leo, admitting that he had done stupid things when he was a teenager, too. But he finished with, "And no more nighttime visits!" Which Max and Raiden figured was fair.

And Leo and Calypso never needed to know a thing.

 **AN: I just googled 'how to remove a tattoo at home' so I'm not sure if what Raiden and Max did works or not. So don't try this at home, kiddies!**


	13. Never put six ADHD legacies in a box

**AN: I don't own PJO.**

"I think I can pick the lock."  
"It doesn't matter if you pick the lock!"

"They'll give up on us soon."  
"We're gonna die!"

"Take a chill pill, drama queen. We won't die. We'll just be…. mangled." Max joked, trying not to laugh.

"THAT IS NOT MAKING ME FEEL BETTER."

The six legacies were sitting in a row on a concrete bench. It was the middle of the night, and all of them were bruised, bloody, hungry, thirsty, tired, and _totally freaked out._ Max Valdez, Raiden Grace, Trixie Stoll, Cassie and Charles Jackson, and Selena Rodriguez were officially doomed.

Because that concrete bench they were sitting on was in a large metal cage, which was currently sitting in the middle of the woods. And the woods were full of monsters. And they didn't know which woods they were in. Or which state. Or country. So, to sum it up, they were officially doomed.

"Guys, shut up!" Raiden shouted, quieting the others. The Jackson twins (who were fifteen, making them the youngest there because Raiden and Max were sixteen, Trixie was seventeen, and Selena was eighteen) grabbed each other's hands.

They all sat in silence in a row for a few minutes.

"I still think I can pick the lock." Trixie muttered.

"How do you even know how to pick a lock?" Cassie demanded.

"Mad skills!"

"Never say that again." Selena groaned.

"If we die with these idiots, I'm beating you up in the Underworld." Max mumbled to Raiden. He smiled-he knew she insulted people when she was worried, and it wasn't good when Max was worried, but he thought it was cute how brave she was. He quickly wiped his smile off his face.

"We heard that!" Trixie said, pretending to be offended.

"Am I still here?" Selena groaned. Charles pretended to gag.

"Guys, seriously!" Raiden shouted again. "We need to get a plan to get out of this. If Trixie can pick the lock, we can fight our way through the monsters in the woods and make our way back to camp."

"I love that plan!" Max said, plastering a fake grin on her face. "There's just one eensy-weensy problem with that plan."  
"What would that be, Valdez?" Raiden asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's terrible."

"I can pick the lock." Trixie said. "I can definitely pick the lock."

"I can take the monsters in the woods. There can only be, like, forty or fifty tops." Selena offered.

"They took your weapons, genius." Max grumbled.

"Charlie and I will back you up." Cassie volunteered, and her silent twin nodded in agreement.

"Of course, we still aren't sure what state we're in." Trixie pointed out. "Once we're out of the woods, we have a long way to go. Or ten feet to go, we have no idea."

"We have to tell camp, though." Raiden said, frowning so that his eyebrows met in the middle of his forehead. "They need to be warned."

"We know, Sparky Jr." Cassie groaned. "That's how we got into this situation in the first place!"

As always, it had started with a prophecy.

Except this time, it was about the six demigods currently residing in a luxurious cage. They were supposed to find Apollo's bow (which had been stolen, long story), fight Echidna (also a long story), and get camp without dying (not a long story at all). But then they had found out that Tartarus was linked into all of this somehow, and there had been this whole thing with the labyrinth and some weirdness.

They had finally escaped, only to be overwhelmed by monsters and knocked unconscious. And woken up in this cage, no idea where they were. But they did know that the woods were full of monsters, and they needed to get back to camp.

Max had decided that she hated prophecies.

"I bet I could just melt through these bars-" Max said, examining the bars of their cage.

"Then do it!" Selena interrupted.

"-If they weren't made of celestial bronze." Max finished. "Way higher melting point. And don't interrupt, getaway driver."

"I'm telling you guys, I can pick the lock." Trixie complained.

"We know you can. Remember that time you-" Cassie started to grin.

"People! Focusing!" Raiden shouted again. He didn't like playing the boss, but his friends were seriously ADHD, and exhausted. Keeping them on-task was like nicely asking a brick wall to get out of your way. "Wonder twins, can you do anything about the cage? Any water close enough to be of help?"

"Nada." Cassie said sadly. "I'm parched!"

"Getaway driver, got any more knives up your sleeves?" Raiden said, turning hopefully to Silena.

"Sorry. They got confiscated at customs." Silena shrugged.

"Trixie, can you get started on the lock?"

"I'm done." Trixie said, motioning to the door of the cage with a mischievous smirk. "I finished a few minutes ago. Nobody asked."

"Oh my-"  
"Trix!"

"You should've-"  
Trixie just rolled her eyes and stepped out of the cage. "Whiny babies. Let's go warn the stupid camp, already."

"You should've said something, Stoll!" Selena fumed as the rest of them climbed out. "We were in there for forever, and you were just-"  
"Hey, do you want to do it?" Trixie said, annoyed, spinning around on her friend. The grass around her feet started to grow taller, reaching for Silena's ankles.

"Everybody, chill!" Raiden shouted. "We have to work together on this."

"What are we gonna do, sing a freaking song? We've got the whole band here." Selena said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, great idea!" Trixie said sarcastically. "I'll start. _Let it go-_ "  
"I SWEAR IF YOU SING ONE MORE WORD YOU WILL DIE."  
"Um, guys?" Max said, giving up on her hope that Raiden could keep them concentrating long enough to get out of this. "Shouldn't we worry about getting back to camp to warn them about the impending threat of an other-worldly godly-powerful being that is the embodiment of evil as we know it coming to eat all demigods?"

Selena and Trixie exchanged grudging glances.

"Fine. Impending embodiment of evil first. Disney music later." Trixie agreed.

Once everyone was walking, Raiden muttered to Max, "Let's never go on another quest ever again."

"I thought that was a given."


	14. Principal's office

**AN: I don't own PJO.**

Leo winced when he glanced at the number on the screen of his cell phone. Not again.

"Hello, Supreme Commander of the Argo II, speaking." He said, trying to be cheerful.

"Mr. Valdez." The surly voice on the other end of the call said, making Leo wince again. He hated talking to Max's principal. "Your daughter Maxine is causing trouble again. Come to my office immediately." Leo hated how Ms. Laurann treated him like a kid. And how she always picked on Max.

But he just hung up and started towards the school, wondering what Max had done this time. For one seven-year-old, she caused a lot of trouble.

He walked down the hallway to Ms. Laurann's office. Raiden Grace was waiting in a chair outside the office. "Hey, Raiden. Did Max kill someone?"  
Raiden smiled and shook his head. "I think she gave the math teacher an aneurism. Other then that…"

"Great." Leo sighed, pushing the door open.

Ms. Laurann was waiting in her office. Max was sitting in the chair opposite her principal, trying to look guilty. But Leo could see the side of her mouth twitching almost imperceptibly-she had done something funny. She was just lucky Ms. Laurann had called Leo, not Calypso. Her mother would be furious.

"Mr. Valdez!" Ms. Laurann snapped. "Please take a seat." Without waiting for him to sit down, she started talking. "Maxine here is a disruptive influence in her classes. She talks back to her teachers, writes sassy answers on her homework, gets into fights at recess. But this is the final straw. Her teacher asked her, and I quote, ' _you have three bottles in one hand and six bottles in the other hand. What do you have altogether?'_ "

"And Max said?" Leo sighed. But he had the feeling he was going to have a hard time not laughing.

"She said; A drinking problem." Ms. Laurann said, glaring at Leo like he should scream and ground Max. Leo was actually stuffing a knuckle in his mouth so he wouldn't laugh.

"Is that all?" He said, slightly muffled with his finger in his mouth. In the chair next to his, Max smirked.

"Is that all? _Is that all?_ " Ms. Laurann looked like she might have a heart attack. " _Is that all?_ Mr. Valdez, do you have any idea what the punishment is for-"  
"No." Leo said, already standing up. "And I'm not gonna find out. C'mon, Max,"

Max leapt out of her chair, grinning. She saluted Ms. Laurann and marched out of the door. Leo snickered, but he was actually much more bothered by this then he was letting on. Max high-fived Raiden once they were out of the office.

"I thought her head would explode!" Max laughed. "You were listening, right?"

Raiden nodded, smiling. "A drinking problem. Good one, but are you sure you should make fun of teachers like that? You could get seriously in trouble."

Max shrugged that away. "It will be fine."

Raiden didn't argue. "C'mon, Trixie and Selena are waiting for us at the-"  
"Actually," Leo interrupted. "Could I borrow my daughter for a minute? I'm sure whatever mischief you're getting up to could wait a few minutes."

Raiden nodded and hurried away down the hallway. Max looked up at her dad, kind of confused. "What is it, _papa_?"

"We should talk." Leo sighed, sitting down on one of the chairs in front of the principal's office. Max nodded and plopped down next to him. "You've heard about the sorts of things I did when I was a kid and a teenager right? How I went to a boarding school for delinquents?"

Max nodded again. Leo sighed and ran a hand through his hair, not sure how to continue with this.

"See… I don't want that to happen to you. So maybe we could work on… _not_ saying everything you feel like saying, okay?" Leo tried. Max looked confused.

"It was funny. All the other kids laughed."

"I know it was funny. But… that doesn't mean it was okay to say it. You just have to learn when it's the right time to be funny and when's the right time to be serious. Okay? So you can say stuff, just not…. are you even following this? Because I'm not."

Max shook her head. "Don't be funny with people of power?"

"Yes!" Leo almost cheered. "I am so glad you parent yourself. This really wasn't going so well."  
"You do great, _papa_." Max said, hugging Leo. He beamed down at her, and instantly forgot that he really should tell Calypso that Max was in trouble again. "I love you so much."

"Uh-huh. Love you too, _bonita_." Leo said. "Go play with your friends. Remember, if you get caught, you're deaf and Raiden doesn't speak English."

Max giggled. "Okay, _papa._ " She scrambled to her feet and ran away down the hallway before Leo could remember that that wasn't what he was supposed to say. Calypso would be mad about this. But if Max was happy? He could be okay with anything.

 _Besides,_ Leo remembered with a slight smile, _Raiden won't let her do anything too bad._

There was an explosion and a burst of flame from outside the school.

 _Well, probably._


	15. Math class is a fire hazard

**AN: I don't own PJO. Also, this chapter is going to center around the Jackson twins, Cassie and Charles, and their friendship with Max.**

Cassie didn't understand why people treated Charles differently from her. Just because he didn't talk didn't mean he was dumb. He got better test scores then she did, always turned in his homework on time, played the guitar like a boss, and somehow managed to be the nicest person she knew without ever saying a word. But people treated him like he couldn't understand what they were saying. It was annoying.

That morning was a good example; it was the first day of school. And their teacher had only been told that Charles didn't talk. So naturally, when Charles's hand shot up during math, the teacher just smiled like, _okay I'll humor you._

"Charles? Do you want to try and answer the question?" The teacher asked in what was supposed to be a sweet voice and a tone like he was three years old. He wasn't-he was twelve, like every other kid in the class. Most of these kids knew the Jackson twins, and understood that this teacher was way off.

Charles nodded. Duh, that was why he raised his hand. "Are you sure you don't want to have _Cassie_ answer for you, honey?" The teacher said. Cassie's blood boiled, but she took a deep breath from her desk next to Charles's. Charles would show this teacher.

Charles glared at the teacher and nodded angrily. He stood up and walked to the board at the front of the class, where the math problem was written.

( _1.5 x 2) + 3.2 =_

Charles glanced at the question and rolled his eyes, picking up a dry erase marker. Cassie grinned-she wasn't as good at math as Charles, but beat him in English and history. So it was always fun to go to math class, where she wasn't top of the class. The look on the teacher's face when they realized that Charles was a math genius for a twelve-year-old was amazing.

Charles didn't even have to write out the math, just the answer: _6.2_

He turned and raised an eyebrow at the teacher, who looked surprised. Her face then turned to annoyance, and she wrote another problem on the board. "Can you solve this one?"  
Cassie eyed the equation. It wasn't fair; that problem was a year ahead. But after a minute's thought, Charles wrote the right answer. All the kids snickered at the shocked anger on the teacher's face. Cassie wanted out of this class-first day of school, and already Charles had made an enemy of their math teacher. But it was so worth it.

They spent ten more minutes going around and around, the teacher giving Charles harder and harder problems, and Charles solving them.

Salvation from this boring and angering cycle came in the form of Max skidding into the classroom and falling into the empty seat next to Cassie. "Miss me?" She asked, winking at Cassie.

"Ms… what is your name?" The teacher asked, finally letting their attention slip from Charles.

"Valdez!" Max said, grinning at the teacher. "Maxine Amazingsauce Valdez. Call me Max. Or Amazingsauce."

Charles slid back into his seat on Cassie's other side, smiling softly.

"Ms. Valdez, you are late. Do you have a late slip, or a note from a teacher?"

"Nope." Max said, popping the p. "There was a slight problem outside the school that required my immediate attention. The fate of the world was at stake."  
"I tried that one." Cassie whispered to Max. "It never works."

"Try again, Ms. Valdez." The teacher said, scoldingly.

"I was attacked by ninjas on the way here. See, there I was, walking down the hallway so I would be on time, just minding my own business, when all of a sudden-"  
"Stay after class, Ms. Valdez." The teacher sighed. Max nodded cheerfully. Then the teacher turned to Charles. "You as well, Mr. Jackson."  
Since Charles couldn't protest, Cassie did it for him. "He didn't do anything wrong! He's good at math, so you're keeping him after class? That isn't fair!"

"I am keeping him after class for cheating." The teacher said snootily. "Nobody who can't talk could answer that many questions correctly. He must have cheated."  
Max, Cassie, and Charles glowered at the teacher. And Max lost her temper. She lit on fire.

The teacher screamed like a banshee and fell off her chair. The kids in the class all started panicking, trying to squeeze through the classroom doors. The overhead sprinklers turned on, hot steam pouring off Max as the water put out the fire. Cassie and Charles, on the other hand? They were cracking up in hysterical laughter (Charles even laughed silently).

"Ms. Valdez!" The teacher bellowed, face red. She stalked towards the trio at the back of the class. "No fire in math class!"  
That just made the three of them laugh harder, even though they were soaking wet and in _so much trouble_.

"This is not funny!" The teacher bellowed. Every other kid in the class had evacuated by now, and the blaring fire alarm was giving everyone a headache. "I'll call your parents!"

All three kids stopped laughing. Percy might let this pass, but Annabeth and Calypso seemed to always be annoyed when they started lighting things on fire at school. For some unknown reason. And Leo… he was fine with Max's mischief and mayhem, as long as it didn't occur at school. He would be so _disappointed…._

"Um, we are very very sorry?" Cassie said hopefully.

"Yeah. That's how sorry we are." Max agreed.

Charles nodded in agreement.

"Too late!" The teacher shouted, whipping out her cell phone. Three minutes later, two very annoyed looking couples were standing in front of the school. Crowds of panicking kids were in front of the school, the fire alarm was blasting, the sprinklers were on so that everybody was soaked, and all the teachers were irate. Especially the math teacher that was marching outside and dragging the Jackson twins and Max.

"Hey, guys," Max said with a weak smile towards her parents and the Jacksons. "Nice weather today, huh?"  
"It wasn't our fault!" Cassie started trying to explain. "This evil teacher didn't think Charles could do the math the other kids could do! So he started doing math problems on the board, but she-"  
"That is a dirty lie!" The teacher spluttered, her face turning red.

"Lady, you're the only one lying. You were being a jerk to Charlie." Max advised, "I think maybe you should just forget this happened."

"Well… fine, maybe I was testing Mr. Jackson. But that is no excuse for you lighting on fire in the middle of my third period math class!"

"Um, heh," Max stuttered when her parents eyes fixed on her. "It wasn't… I didn't _mean_ to-It was on accident."

" _Te prometiste que esforzarse más este año_ ," (translation: You promised you would try harder this year,) Leo said sadly, shaking his head.

" _No podía sentarse y dejar que este imbécil ser malo para mi amigo!_ " (translation: I couldn't sit by and let this idiot be mean to my friend!) Max protested.

" _Había otras maneras de ayudar a continuación, encender el fuego! Apenas sea honesto conmigo: lo hiciste a propósito?_ " (translation: There were other ways to help then lighting on fire! Just be honest with me: did you do it on purpose?) Leo sighed.

"No! I didn't! Of course not!" Max burst out in English this time. The others were just looking really confused, trying to figure out what the Valdez's were arguing about.

"Promise me?" Leo said doubtfully.

"Yeah!"

"Okay, we're good. It was an accident. Just… no more fire at school, okay?" Leo said, and Max nodded vigorously. "The fire was an accident," Leo reported to Calypso. "And the teacher was doubting Charles's math skills, making him answer a bunch of questions on the board and treating him funny." He didn't have to ask Max for the details; things like this had happened before.

"I-I-I didn't mean to-" The teacher tried to protest, but all four Jacksons were glaring at her. Leo and Calypso flanked Max and started to lead her away as the Jacksons chewed out the math teacher.

"What do you say to a day at the machine shop with Uncle Harley, Aunt Nyssa, and I?" Leo offered his daughter. Max nodded.

"I need out of this school."  
"I know the feeling."

 **AN: leave a review or favorite/follow! Thanks for reading, everybody.**


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